The Duden Dictionary
by maximcffs
Summary: The bombs have been dropped, and the ceiling's just collapsed on Rudy's family. Rudy himself was hiding under the table, wide awake. As he hid, a book falls off the table, titled "The Duden Dictionary". The rest of the house collapsed around him and the book, leaving him alone with his thoughts. Oneshot.


**A/N: So I recently found out about the strange problem that this fic had, and I've fixed it. I apologize for the inconveniences.**

 **I wrote this for Language Arts class (we had to write a fanfiction about any story we read that year), and I was happy with the responses I got from my classmates. I liked this as well, so I put it on here.**

 **I don't speak German well, so any German readers/speakers there, please alert me of any mistakes with the words I used. (I only used words, not actual sentences in German.) Anyone else can of course alert me of any other grammatical errors. Thanks in advance.**

 **Enjoy!**

 *** * * A FORESEEING * * ***

 **Rudy Steiner was about to die.**

"Hey, Saumensch! We're gonna get caught! Get out of the Bürgermeister's2 house!" Rudy's bright colored hair stuck out from under the surrounding tree branches. He urged Liesel to jump from the window already, because he had no desire to read stolen books.

But anything for Liesel, right?

Liesel reached her hand out and replied, with an annoyed tone, "Alright, alright! Calm down already!" She hopped down from the open window and landed, with a grand explosion sounding from behind her.

The scene changed; fire burning everywhere, broken concrete scattered across the charred land. Rudy saw Liesel, lying face up, but he wasn't able to reach her.

As the boy awoke, he felt the ground vibrating, and dust falling from the roof. He had rolled off the bed. He stood up, just to be knocked down by another large explosion that literally shook the entire room. More quakes ensued as the roof started crashing down. Rudy ducked under a table as the dusty walls crashed down onto the surface. His bed being the surface. The few books that lay on his makeshift shelter slid off the top, and clattered onto the ground, making a cloud of dust float into Rudy's face. One book fell face up, with the words "Duden Dictionary" showing. As ashes fell around and stained his blond hair, reminding him of the Jesse Owens incident. Smoke flooded into the room, and soon subsided, and while it did, Rudy couldn't make a sound.

The roof had fallen onto his family, crushing them underneath.

 *** * * THE WORST MINUTE OF RUDY STEINER'S LIFE * * ***

 **Rudy was one of two Steiner family**

 **members left. His many siblings lay under the rubble,**

 **not moving even the slightest bit. They were dead.**

Rudy rarely cried. In the ironically sad neighborhood of Himmel Straße, nothing unbearably terrible happened to him. But as of right now, burning tears were falling down his dirty face as he sobbed and shook uncontrollably.

 *** * * DUDEN DICTIONARY DEFINITION #10 * * ***

 **Angst**

 **Fear– a distressing emotion caused by impending danger; anxiety, worry.**

Rudy sat against the bed, hugging his knees until the next wave of bombs rained down once again. As they fell, he dove under the table and covered his head with his hands. These bombs were farther down the street. But still, more crumbled bits of the house fell on the wobbly table.

There wasn't a pause between the waves of bombs for a long time, and with each explosion, Rudy could feel the searing heat come nearer and nearer to him.

 *** * * A SIDETRACKED THOUGHT * * ***

 **Rudy couldn't help but worry about Liesel.**

A grand "boom" sounded as the remaining structure of the house finally collapsed, burying Rudy and everything around him. The dilapidated beams and wood poked at his back, his arms, and just about everywhere. At least his family didn't feel the same pain he did now. The dimly lit sky was closed off from his view, and only small cracks of the tiniest glow could be seen. Other than that, it was completely dark.

Rudy twisted and turned, and pleaded that someone, like his father, or maybe even Liesel, could lift up the heavy debris around him and just save him. He tried and tried to claw through the dirt and free himself, but nothing budged, even a bit. He wanted to rescue himself, so he can brag to Franz Deutscher's face about how strong he was, being able to pull himself out of a hopeless situation. But Franz Deutscher was probably dead. By now, Rudy's hair stuck to his forehead from the sweat, and he panted heavily from the hard effort he put into trying to escape. Though everything was muffled, he could still feel every quake and every bomb that surrounded him. Rudy didn't care, but there were cuts all over his arms and legs from the jagged debris. His hands ached from strain and the dark space around him spun vigorously, but he kept digging and pushing.

 *** * * THE HALLUCINATION * * ***

 **Rudy thought that his father and Liesel were standing above**

 **him, talking to each other.**

Only half a minute had passed before he realized that it was just the murmuring of the bombs that still fell.

Only half an hour had passed since he had been sleeping peacefully on his bed, in his unbroken home.

And with that realization, Rudy felt his throat get choked up, and his vision get blurred, and his eyes get red and swollen. He had seen firsthand how fast death could occur, and how fast the pain would come afterwards.

Rudy curled up into a ball and bawled and screamed until he nearly threw up. He found himself choking on his own tears and the particles of dust that floated about the air.

After minutes of mourning and screaming, he once again pushed against the stained rocks and exerted all the force his worn out body could give.

So much work for a fraction of a movement.

There were no small stones to carefully pluck out, as they all had been ground to a fine dust by the hulking masses of debris. The bombs still continued in the background, further down the street, and shook the dust out from between the cracks.

The bombs came closer again, and Rudy knew this time not to be scared.

They hadn't come close to where he was shielded, so why wouldn't it be the same now?

 *** * * DUDEN DICTIONARY #11 * * ***

 **Fehler**

 **mistake– an error or judgement caused by**

 **poor reasoning, carelessness, insufficient knowledge, etc.**

As the crashes from the explosions grew louder and closer, Rudy could feel the burn of the ashes that fell through the cracks of his shelter. He thought that the flowing ashes would eventually die down, but they just increased in number.

He figured out that the bombs were closing in on him, and would not back away in time for him to escape. But he kicked and shrieked at his stone prison anyway, pleading that it would move so he could find a way to survive. He lunged forward and attempted to grasp the scalding hot stone above him, but he grimaced in pain as it scorched his hand. He even punched the wall of debris around him, even if it just gave him bruised fingers. Rudy was crying now; crying because he felt he was too weak to bring himself out of a structure formed only by separate pieces of a house, and because he knew he wouldn't make it.

He couldn't ever again try to get a kiss from Liesel, and couldn't ever again run on an empty race track painted black with charcoal.

In fact, there wasn't much he could do even then. He was tired and injured. The poor boy heard his end finally coming, from a whistle that followed a final explosion, which crushed him under his debris prison. He whispered one last thing before he let his eyes drop for the last time, "Entschuldigung."

 *** * * DUDEN DICTIONARY DEFINITION #12 * * ***

 **Entschudigung**

 **Sorry– used as a conventional apology or expression of regret.**

The morning after, Liesel found Rudy face down, sprawled out on the hard ground, with one arm extended forward, as if he were reaching for her.


End file.
